“It’s nothing worth your energy. He’s like that all the time,” Drakke told Roenan as he strode back toward him.

“He’s not like that with me.”

“Aren't you lucky?” Drakke smiled. “Take off your shirt.”

Roenan brows pulled down in confusion, “Sorry, what?” 

“Your shirt." Drakke said. "Take it off."

Roenan huffed an incredulous laugh. A small smile started to form on his face, “You thought about it all night, didn’t you?”

"Hah!" Drakke laughed, sarcastically. " Sister - not brother. Just shut up and do it."

Roenan pulled off his shirt. His bandage hadn’t been changed in a week.

"We need to take this off and redress it," Drakke said. He the found clips on Roenan's wrapping and unclipped them. He tapped at Roenan to lift his arms and began unraveling the wrap. Drakke stood behind him as he passed the wrapping from one of his hands to the next in front of Roenan's chest. Roenan felt Drakke's breath on his back, and goosebumps began to rise on his body.

“Cold?” he asked.

“Yeah,” Roenan lied.

Drakke unraveled the last part of fabric that was wrapped around him and pulled his shoulder so he would turn around. He looked down at the wounds.

"It'll just take a second. Do you mind?" Drakke asked, lifting his hand to touch.

"Go for it."

Drakke brushed his fingers down on the raw, round wounds. They were definitely still healing, but they looked good. He pressed down slightly.

"Still tender?"

“The ribs, mostly,” Roenan said quietly.

Drakke nodded. He gently beckoned for him to turn around again. After he spun, he felt Drakke's fingers lightly tapped down over the exit wounds, grazing across them softly. He cleared his throat as he attempted to stifle another shiver.

"They're looking really good, but you're going to want to be careful. They'll be throwing you into brutally physical stuff out there and you're probably going to have to suck it up sometimes. Turn to face me again."

When he turned around, Drakke was grabbing a new dressing off of the bed unraveling the starting point. He had Roenan hold it in place as he began wrapping the gauze around him again, leaning his head over Roenan's shoulder as he circled the dressing around his body. He could feel his warm breath skittering along the side of his neck this time, and Roenan shifted in place again, gulping loudly.

"I'm sure it's uncomfortable, we're almost done." Drakke said apologetically, clearly thinking he was hurting him. Roenan squeezed his eyes tightly with a different kind of apology in his own mind, for a different sort of discomfort this was causing. 

Roenan, at the brink of what he could handle, was about to push him away and wrap the rest himself when Drakke lifted up and reached over to grab Roenan's bag to hand it to him. "Better change... and change into the sweats. Not the uniform.”

Roenan clutched the bag in front of himself just as Saive returned, already dressed in sweats. They fit him a little loosely and he had completely defaced the Vernajjian crest that had been embroidered on the left breast. It was now just a frayed messed of color.

Drakke snorted, humorlessly. "Off to a good start," He said in Vernajjian. "You’ll find out what that gets you.”

“Will you be doing the honors?” Saive asked, mock curiosity on his face.

Drakke's smile quickly fell and was replaced with a warning look.

"Even if I might not understand what you’re both saying, I can tell that it's... look - can you guys just not talk to each other or something? I don't want today's plank walk to have to start here if it doesn't need to." Roenan glared between them, before turning on his heels to disappear into the bathroom. He shut door behind him harder than usual.

“What exactly are you doing?” Drakke hissed irritably.

Saive raised a brow. “Exposing you.” He switched to Jaedan.

"I've warned you countless times," Drakke responded back, in Jaedan, when he realized Saive would no longer shift languages with him. "If you decided to behave and just did as they asked, you'd have been treated better." 

"Save the bullshit, we both know that’s a load of trash. I exactly who you are and what you’re doing.” Saive glanced Drakke up and down with a look of disgust.

Drakke took a threatening step toward him, “You don’t know me," he whispered in harsh Vernajjian.

"Who are you trying to convince right now, yourself, or me?" Saive shot back, menacingly.

Drakke opened his mouth, but the bathroom door swung open.

Roenan stepped out in sweats and sighed deeply. “Let’s get this over with.”

“Do you have everything?” Drakke asked tightly, straightening up.

Roenan zipped his bag and nodded, glancing at Saive with softness, while Drakke looked over at him with cold eyes.

“Waiting for the master’s cue,” Saive said, flatly.

"Let's go, then." Drakke said curtly, as he turned and strode for the door.

Roenan jogged to catch up with him, craning over to look at his face. 

"What's the matter?" Saive heard him ask quietly.

"How are you feeling?" Drakke responded, changing the subject. "Did you get enough sleep?"

Saive thought Roenan looked like a fucking puppy as he followed after Drakke. Roenan was probably the only other Jaedan in the entire camp, and he'd practically become a Vernajjian in the space of a month. And somehow, that made him feel more alone than ever before. 

These are about to be some of the longest days of my life, Saive thought with dread. 

He grabbed his bag and followed.